Release Notes “True Survivor" (Release 0.49.10)

I am more than delighted to unveil the next software release to you! The release is ready when you read this. In order to get it onto your NEEO quickly, make sure to check out the "how to update your NEEO” section below.

As always, many of the new features are strongly influenced by all the discussions and the feedback you provide on Planet NEEO. Thanks a lot for being so active!

I’m super excited to announce the new customization features. Starting from today you will be able to freely customize the view of every single screen on the NEEO remote & app. By sorting, hiding and manually creating any screens for each individual device you get a whole new level of customization. Let’s dive deeper:

Whenever you start a recipe on NEEO, you’ll have different screens available through which you can swipe horizontally, those screens are what we call a "recipe slide". Here are a couple of examples of what you can do: Let’s say you are using the TV recipe only for SmartTV functions and don’t need the TV favorites slides, no problem, you can now hide these. Another one: If all you need on your setup box are the “Favorites” slides, go ahead an hide everything else. Generally, if the automatically generated slides are not what you wish to use, create new slides with shortcuts and just drag them in the first position and you’ll always get to see this first. I could write a whole book of examples right here, but I’m sure you got it ;-) Just FYI - depending on how you add the buttons, sliders, widgets etc - some shortcut screens can look a bit weird. We are working on the cosmetics of these shortcuts as they just became more important with the new customization options. Things will look muuuch prettier in the next release (most likely 0.50.x). Just wanted to warn you ;-)

All these customization options are available via the NEEO App by choosing “Edit slides” on the top right within a recipe or by going to the settings in the NEEO App and then choosing “Customize Slides” after clicking on a recipe.

Of course there is a ton more. Thanks to a bunch of change in the background the NEEO experience has been further improved for more speed, even higher reliability and overall snappier performance. In addition to a bunch of SDK changes we also enabled support for hidden SSIDs. Below are the full release notes for everyone who loves to know the details. Also, check out the Known Issues for this release.

How to update your NEEO

Once the update is available it will show up in your NEEO App as well as on the NEEO Remote in the top right corner with a red dot with an exclamation mark. All you have to do is opening the NEEO App and then follow this red exclamation mark, you’ll then be guided through the process. We have also prepared a little guide.

Be aware that it may take a few hours until your NEEO Brain shows the update, not all of them download the update at the same time, so give it some time. A little hint from me: Rebooting the NEEO Brain initiates a firmware check and speeds up the download process.

Release Notes

Release Version NEEO Brain: 0.49.10

Release Version NEEO Remote: 0.49.10

NEEO Brain

Fixed issue when Sonos did not update the correct state - for example after a Sonos firmware update or when you cleared the Queue.

Fixed issue when Sonos could not be controlled anymore.

Improved command queue handling, commands for other devices should not be blocked anymore if a single device is causing issues.

Device recipe slides can now be sorted and disabled.

Display Fire TV hardware details during discovery.

Fixed a rare issue where Sonos, Hue, FireTV devices were no longer visible when trying to add a new device.

Improved memory and CPU usage.

Fixed issue that the NEEO Brain was getting a new IP Address after a firmware update.

Added specific error message when a recipe cannot be executed because the queue is full.

Fixed strange fork and other weird icons in the top-left corner for some scenarios in the Mobile App.

Show registered SDK adapters directly in the NEEO App in the menu "SDK Integrations" in the NEEO Brain section of the NEEO App settings.

Registered SDK Adapters are now saved, so no more need to restart these after rebooting the NEEO Brain.

Improved CEC discovery for Amazon FireTV.

Fixed issue where LIFX, FireTV and other devices were no longer controllable after a reboot of the Brain.

Fixed issue where Spotify was not browsable.

Improved Z-Wave error messages.

Fixed issue when Spotify account was not logged in / browsable on the NEEO Remote / App

Added feature to connect to non-broadcasted (hidden) WIFI SSIDs.

Updated Z-Wave Database.

NEEO Remote:

Device recipes slides are now shown according to the settings in the NEEO App.

Improved image rendering.

Improved style for popups.

Recording widget now uses the same icon for "My recordings" as in NEEO App.

Improved WiFi Reconnecting.

Fixed memory leak when processing Neeo-link messages.

Added reset of wifi chip if the connection to NEEO Brain fails.

Improved FTUE screen explaining how to press the button for pairing on NEEO Brain (only 1 second for pairing).

Added support for Hidden SSIDs.

Improved image downloading to prevent delay of any other processes on slow wifi connections.

Michael Sørensen The release is available around the world right now. It might take a while to show up. As hinted, give your Brain a reboot and then wait for about 15 minutes, that will make sure it checks for an update and has time to download it.

I must be missing something here as I saw no « new slide » option, only the existing shortcut page. Also noticed the light recipe normally shows « light » at the top of the screen but when you hide the default slide (keeping only the shortcut slide) this changes to the name of the first shortcut?!?

Hello! You would launch a recipe and then use the NEEO app to follow these steps: Tap on the active recipe under "Now Active" > tap on the hamburger menu located on the upper right-hand corner > tap on "Edit Slides" > tap on the numbers located on the top right under the 'Save' button. This will allow you to re-arrange the slides.

I have noticed that now my tv controls (as this is all I am able to use it for) the button presses seem to be sticking.

For example I'm going to type in some things in the tv keyboard (using the directional arrows and center button to navigate the keyboard). If I single tap one of the buttons it seems to sometimes add multiple presses.

for example I highlight the letter "a" and then click the center button (enter) and it'll send "aaaa" sometimes. Or pressing the right arrow once, it'll move it between 1-4 spaces sometimes.

This happens on the digital controls(phone app controls) as well as the physical buttons on the remote, making it pretty much unusable.

Frank Montanaro Can you please try and reboot your NEEO Brain once more. Also, can you confirm that this was not happening before the update? What is the make and model of the device that this is happening on?

Michael VogtJeff I rebooted and the problem still persists. It seems reproducible if you press a button in quicker succession, if you pause like a second in between button presses it moves one at a time (of course, this isn't the way it should be, it should move once for every one push of the button, no matter the delay in between).

Michael Vogt No this is tapping the button in quick (I would say normal) succession to move across the keyboard. So tap,tap,tap to move 3 spaces instead of what works tap (wait a second),tap (wait a second),tap (wait a second)

Jeff Ah crap, my bad sorry. No idea how I fat-fingered that since it's two numbers off (unless I had typed it in wrong originally before re-adding it to the correct one, but that's just guessing since I removed and re-added the device earlier)

Frank Montanaro Good to know :). When you say the internet apps button. Are you referring to the "Menu Home Tv" button? I have a very similar Tv as yours and that is the button I use to access my apps.

Jeff Actually might not be a neeo problem, i'm trying to access them through the menu (the internet app selector) and just nothing happens. I don't have batteries for the original remote or I'd try that, but I'm guessing it's just bug in this old TV.

Frank Montanaro The Menu home button I described should accomplish the same. When I press this button on my Sony Tv I am able to access any installed apps like YouTube, Sling Tv etc... Let me know if I am understanding you correctly.

netflix (this one has the dedicated button as well that you all fixed)

Applications <- this one doesn't work, from my memory it would open up like an apps page like my newer sony tv does. I think it's just a problem with the TV really, I can maybe just make a shortcut to go to the "Internet Contents" and select amazon

Patrick As I just wrote to Jeff under the old Post, LIFX still isn't working for me.

Chromecast was discussed with Jeff mostly via DM, but that also isn't any better after the upgrade. Pause/Play of Chromecast works on a fresh reboot of the Brain, but quickly craps out - not sure if it happens after a period of time, or after running another Recipe, but it dies very quickly... Pause/Play buttons stop working.

This was discussed right away after the last upgrade.... I had hoped you'd address it in this release.

milo I own a Z-wave light bulb that I was personally having issues with on my NEEO. As I was beta testing this firmware (and subsequent fw's) I have noticed improvements with the slider and inlcuding the device. While I never experienced the "Unknown device" issue, I was able to successfully add it and have constant control of it. Before, I would lose control of my light bulb and lifx mini after using them shortly. Please let us know if you see any improvements in this matter.

Nicolas Philippe Hi Nicolas, Why do you need a new slide? Basically I guess the new update is not able to add a new slide. But all required slides are already available and now you can change the order or hide some slides. Moreover you still have the shortcut screen where you can add additional buttons or widgets.

Stefan Braun I'd like to create more than one shortcut screen to manage my lights and stores on one screen (z-wave) and my audio-video device on another. Raphael said in his post that we can now "create new slides with shortcuts". This is the feature i'm looking for.

Nicolas Philippe As far as i know, creating new slides is currently done via the shortcut page and the widgets and buttons that can be added from each device. Filling up one pages, leads to a second one and so on. there is still a way to improve this, but i'm also confident, that this will be done by the Team behind NEEo, as this is only the first step to customization.

Have you tested this? But you are on beta, correct? On 49.10 adding shortcuts leads to a slide that requires scrolling down, not new slides. Which is not ideal because there is zero visual indication you can or indeed should scroll down to find more commands.

Markus Mahr ok, no problem. Was hoping you had found a way to do this after all. It is pretty clear it is not possible.

@ NEEO

We can hide unused slides, re-arrange them and use the shortcut page to duplicate useful commands and hide one more standard slide. This goes a long way in cleaning up so it is definitely a useful feature. But it would be nice if somebody from the team confirmed that you may have oversold the « fully customisable slides » so people can stop wasting time on looking for an option to add new slides.

Michael Vogt as example my AVR is capable of Spotify connect, and also all amazon Echo devices are able to get the stream.

There is lots of hardware available that can handle Spotify connect, so u use neeo to select what you like to hear and then neeo lists all available targets ( like the Spotify app do) and you only need to select where you like to hear the music but neeo is used to control the different devices.

This should be doable since all these devices uses the same receive code as this is part of Spotify api

David Hall There seems to be a feature request already. Vote on it so Neeo team will give it priority!

This would be very helpful for me too. I frequently listen to spotify music on my phone, and when I get home, I can continue listening on my AVR that supports Spotify Connect (Marantz NR1607) by just tapping on the "Devices available" button on the app. At this point with the Neeo remote I can only launch a barebones AVR recipe to have pause/next/volume control, but I can't choose playlists nor see the current playback status.

Update is installed and I´m able to customize a little more. I´m able to re-order the slides and show/hide them. Good improvement and keep up the good work...but I haven´t found a way to edit/customize existing slides or create a new / additional one.

Why do I want to edit/customize existing slides? Correct names of some buttons (Smart Hub vs. Menu), location/order of the buttons or to show/hide them.

New slides would be great so I really would be able to customize it the way I would desire...buttons "I" use most (think everybody uses his remote differently) on my 1st screen.

I´m also missing a way to integrate the app´s installed on my TV. (e.g. Amazon Video (I saw a Netflix one when I remember correctly)

For these reasons, I still use my standard Samsung remote more frequent then my beautiful NEEO...

BTW just discovered that "Sunrise/sunset" would be a nice feature to integrate in "recipes". (unsure if it should be "time of day" or "sunrise/sunset") I´ve created my recipes for e.g. switching on my TV/XBOX/DVD-Player in winter when it was dark (early). These switch on the device and also the Hue lamps in that room. When in day- or summertime I don´t need the lamps to be switched on (that early).

Peter Boeijen For creating own slides u use the Favorite / Shortcut slide and add buttons or widgets to it. Currently this is the only way to add a "custom" layout to buttons. There are issues with some layouts (as Raphael allready wrote)

For using Sunset Sunriste there is an open Voting over here, maybe you like to add your vote as well:

Peter Boeijen If there are no direct Buttons for the apps, or direct calls from the original remote, i don't can imagine how this can be handled. I mean the Favorites are sending the Numbers correlated to the channel they are saved, for the apps it must give an direct link as well (from the TV manufacturer) else this is not possible to be reliably done.

If there are direct codes that the original remote uses, the device driver team might integrate them for your tv model, but otherwise i don't see this happening without an Readout and direct link to one of the apps.

Markus Mahr THX! When NEEO was released, my Samsung TV wasn´t listed, so before I contacted the driver team, I picked the closest Samsung driver. When I remember correctly this driver contained a Netflix button (which was pretty neat!) Since then I´m wondering how to get this done ;-) (perhaps one of the NEEO developers or driver team have more insights)

Peter Boeijen Maybe Andy can provide you a live test for the Netflix (and Amazon or else) Buttons and you can check if you are able to load the apps via these codes, if so, Andy can for sure integrate these codes to your TV model and you are then able to direclty access these.

JeffAwesome, thanks for the update! (I haven´t done much testing yet and wondering why the Driver Version went down from 66 to 2) but I´m able to start the Netflix via shortcuts! :-)

You now made me curious...I don´t have a Netflix button on my Samsung remote either...so how the heck did you manage to get this done! Would love to get the other apps in my shortcuts as well! (and see some nice branded Icons/logos - like in favorites - in future versions of NEEO ;-)

Peter Boeijen Hi Peter! I ended up removing my reply as I sent it prematurely. Looks like the update happened after the actual update happened on the server side :).

Glad to hear its working and I am not too sure why it went down from versions, but I am glad all is good. In our database, we had it ;). Not too sure other apps will be available as only Netflix is available.

Jeff is it possible to integrate Netflix with amazon fire tv ? I would love to click Netflix recipe which starts my tv -> avr -> firetv -> Netflix app and start my the show I like :). Even better if I can browse TV shows on Neeo app :) .

Markus Mahr It takes about 1-2 seconds to launch the app after the shortcut is pressed. I could definitely see issues with that delay if you were using adb for all other functions (scrolling, selecting, playback etc.) I strictly use adb to launch apps and use HDMI-CEC for use of the fire tv control. Best of both worlds I feel considering there is no other alternative that I am aware of at the moment.

Aaron Ranson Yes, that is the timegap i also discovered. For controlling the device, it is not doable. An Intermix from SDK and HDMI-CEC or IR Driver is currently also a big hurdle via NEEO and the SDK, but yes, it is possible.

Hopefully this all will be gone, when using bluetooth is possible, and or also the SDK and the functions of the NEEO will be enhanced.

Jay Choudhary I accomplished a single button push on NEEO that starts the various hardware then the app... on a smart TV though. Mine used a low tech approach, using a macro NEEO provided for me to cursor over to the app (e.g. Netflix) and click it. Not fancy, but I love having the convenience. I mention it in case it would be possible to do in your case.

so wow. i can now re-order the slides. really? this is it? i want to rename functions, have other pictures for them - have my very own design and arrangement for only one slide with all the functions i need.

it is ok to have a "beginner-mode" where you design everything and say how to do things. but in the end, neeo will only be great if you give power to the people! and at least this means to have your sdk running on the brain so people can create everything that is needed without the need for any other hardware! - so your programmers can do what they need to do: bugfix everything! why can't i still use smart-delays? where is a way to program "if this, than that"? my remote has to send unnecessary commands just to have every command for every case...

Sebastian Prehn the more updates are followed, the more of your requests are build in. This is only the first step and as NEEO don't whant to do "big, heavy and less" updates, they do the "small, feature by feature and more" update way, this means with every update there are small changes for the user but the more you get, the more are in there. also sometimes a feature needs tweaking basic code and this change can't be done in one single day and needs proper testing with all involved other / on top possibilitiesy.

Markus Mahr i don't know how long neeo would like to make "first steps". there are a lot of features that should already be build in - but yes, it will be nice to have a cool remote in maybe 3-4 years...the community is there and is just waiting to do the cool stuff everybody wants - let them do it! i do not see any reason why this ideas have to run on another piece of hardware!

Sebastian Prehn There are allready running drivers build in the brain, but that leaded to some errors (stopped working under circum stances) this is all for testing and if the team imporved the working way and all major bugs and hurdles are cleaned, they will open the system to community drivers. Thats what they allready told in other posts.

i don't think this will take 3-4 years. They are making good way to implement things and killing bugs, for the amount of people that are behind the remote.

Sebastian Prehn I agree. The update was described as being able to "fully customize your slides". Until we can move individual buttons around and organize individual slide's functions, I can't get too excited. This is a nice addition however.

Markus Mahr Thank you Markus for the tips. Unfortunately ist didn't work. I restartet the router, the BRAIN, the SONOS-Devices and the Mobile-Devices. What finaly helped was to delete the SONOS-Device (SONOS Connect) and to re-install it with the NEEO-App. Not a verry elegant solution...